The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Tom had a scheduled meeting in Houston. Because he wasn’t able to get a direct flight the same day as his meeting, he needed to go out the day before. That was a long weekend for me (Tiff) at work as well, so it was sad to think that we wouldn’t have that extra time together because of Tom’s meeting. So, Tom suggested that I go with him to Houston and we make a little getaway out of it! It was great and worked out with our new IHG property ownership. We flew out the evening of Friday, January 18, but first we stopped to say goodbye to Isaac – he’d been at McBride’s since we both had work that day, but we were able to spend some time with him before we headed to the airport. He’s such a sweet boy and we really miss him when we’re away!
We got an Uber to the airport and arrived with plenty of time, thankfully! Part of the federal government was shut down thanks to President Trump, so the TSA lines at airports have apparently been crazy and we wanted to be there early enough to not miss our flight. We’d both been upgraded to first class when we arrived, so that was great! The flight was pretty easy – we watched a movie called Morning Glory that was pretty cute, and then I fell asleep a bit. It was a pretty quick flight! We arrived in Houston after 11:00pm and then by the time we got our car, it was after midnight. Our hotel was part of the IHG timeshare places that we now own, and we were excited to see what it was all about! It was about a half hour outside of Texas in a city called Conroe, and at first the drive was alright but then it got crazy! It was raining and the further outside we got from the city, the harder the rain started coming. By the time we got off the freeway onto the little highway that led to our hotel, the rain was coming so hard that the windshield wipers weren’t doing anything. It was crazy and honestly kind of scary! We couldn’t see the roads or anything – it was insane. Thankfully Tom is an expert driver though and we arrived safe and sound, but still – quite the adventure!
The next day, Saturday, January 19th, was a good day! We slept in, which was great – we hardly ever do that! After doing a morning workout, we went to breakfast at a place called Toasted Yolk Café. It was delicious! I have the chicken and biscuits with some fresh orange juice, and Tom had the “Cowboy Scramble” with some orange juice, and we shared some churro donuts. It was delish!
After breakfast, we got ready and headed to the temple. By the time we got there, it was around 3:15 so we walked around the grounds a lot and took some pictures. It was a really beautiful temple! Then we went inside, rented clothes, and did a session. We actually got to be the witness couple, which was wonderful and so special! We love visiting temples out of town, and this is another one to check off our list!
After the session, we drove downtown to go to the Houston Rockets game. By the time we got downtown and parked, we had to change our clothes in the car and then head into the game. It was so much fun! We had great seats – on the first row of the upper bowl, and it was a great game! James Harden has been scoring 40-50 points each game, so it was fun to watch him. He had a fairly off game, but he still scored 48 points! The Rockets were behind most of the game, but then they came back and tied it so the game went to overtime and they won! It was so much fun! While there, we grabbed some dinner – hamburgers and fries – as well as a souvenir basketball to use for our mini-hoops at home. It was such a fun night!
Sunday was a good day – we slept in again, which was awesome, and then got ready to go to church. It’s so amazing how we can feel so out of place or touristy when we travel, but then you go to the temple or church and it all feels like home and so familiar. The meeting was good – people were so kind and welcoming, and the speakers did a great job. There was also a special musical number – very different than the special musical number we heard in Louisiana! 🙂
Later that afternoon, we decided to go exploring a bit, and we found this state park that was really beautiful! It was called the W. G. Jones State Forest and there were so many ponds and walking paths that we were able to explore. It was really, really pretty and a perfect Sunday afternoon activity. We then had dinner at a Tex-Mex restaurant called Mama Juanita’s, and it was really delicious!
The next day, Monday, January 21st, we slept in again – seriously, it was really nice to be able to do so – and then we decided to walk around the resort grounds and explore. It is a pretty nice property and the weather was beautiful for being outside!
We then headed into Galveston. We first stopped at a place called Pleasure Pier, but it wasn’t too exciting because you had to pay to even walk on the pier. So instead, we walked along the beach and picked up shells and enjoyed the nice weather! It was a little breezy, but we had a great time!
Then we headed into downtown Galveston to look around. It’s a cool city with lots of old buildings, and it was interesting to see as well some of the Hurricane Harvey impacts. It’s crazy to think how the city was just underwater… Sure makes us grateful to live in a place where that doesn’t happen. After that, we drove over to the other IHG vacation properties, and they were alright but we’re glad we made the choice to stay at Lake Conroe. We then drove back to Houston and went to the movies. We haven’t been to a movie since Isaac was born, so that was fun! We saw the new Mary Poppins movie and it was pretty cute! After we went to dinner at a steak house called Saltgrass and it was really yummy and a good way to end the day!
Tuesday we flew home after Tom’s meeting, and it was great to be back and see our sweet little boy again. We’re grateful for the pictures Sara sent us while we were away — it’s fun to have getaways for just the two of us, but we sure do love being reunited together as a family!
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